Meaning: 1. To work as a veterinarian. 2. To submit for verification by those familiar with the object or subject in question, to have an expert check it.

Notes: We hear this Good Word more often as a noun, a clipping of the noun veterinarian, but it is being used more and more in the second sense above. This clipping now behaves like a normal English weak verb: vets, vetted, vetting. Note the usual doubling of the consonant before endings beginning with a vowel.

In Play: Today's Good Word usually refers to having plans and ideas checked by an authority no matter who or where: "Have you vetted your plans for the weekend beach party with your parents?" The point is that the input of others might have a beneficial effect: "You might have vetted your idea of putting frogs in all the office toilets with your coworkers before you carried it out."

Word History: Today's Good Word is a clipping of veterinarian, that is, everything after the initial syllable has been clipped off. It first appeared in print in 1891 with the original sense of taking an animal, especially a horse, to a vet to be examined. This expression became so common in the horse-and-buggy days that the meaning expanded to having people checked by a doctor and, from there, to having anything checked by an expert or experts. The noun veterinarian is the English adaptation of Latin veterinarius "veterinarian", a noun based on veterinus "pack animal". This word was originally vehiterinus, with the same root found in vehiculum from vehere "to haul, carry". This is the source of English vehicle. (We are happy that the mysterious 'JBR' vetted this word with us—we think it a very Good Word, indeed.)

This verb was a definite Briticism - I remember hearing it for the first time in the '50s in a British personnel security context, as in the phrase "positive vetting". I think its adoption into American speech is (relatively) quite recent.

Welcome JohnYY. Post often. My British friends use vet to mean academically test. It is not wholly acepted in American speech except when referring to animal medicine and, as per Perry, an abbreviation for veteran.

Philip Hudson wrote:Welcome JohnYY. Post often. My British friends use vet to mean academically test. It is not wholly acepted in American speech except when referring to animal medicine and, as per Perry, an abbreviation for veteran.

I beg to differ on the acceptance of vet in Amer-English. Do we not vet our presidential candidates? And was John McCain not vilified for not properly vetting Sarah Palin?

Federal court judges and nearly all government appointees are also vetted, quite vigorously at times.

Life is like playing chess with chessmen who each have thoughts and feelings and motives of their own.

They are supposed to be there. We have upgraded the Agora software for the first time ever. If you see any glitches, sent reports to Andrew. A link to Andrew may be found by clicking the "Team" link written in very, very small letters at the bottom of the front page of the Agora.

I've alerted Andrew to this problem so there is no need for you to do it. But if you see anything else amiss, please do not wait for me.

I sent a PM to both you and Andrew yesterday and have received no reply,that perhaps, is one of the problems you should be aware of.There is still no avatar. I have not received notifications, nor the daily word of the daytoday.